This fall, a group of 4 otters, probably a family, visited the small lake where I live. I was watching them one day as they were porposing in the water, up on the surface and then diving into the water and coming back up again. At one point, one of the otters came up to the surface and was carrying something in its mouth that was too big to swallow whole. He (or she?) made a beeline for my neighbor’s dock. The neighbors have a step ladder going from the dock into the water, and the otter climbed up onto the first step out of the water and proceeded to chow down on a good-sized fish. It looked like he started with the tail, and I could hear him crunching. Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch. None of the others tried to get in on his breakfast and he sat there for about 15 minutes until every morsel was gone. I might have seen him lick his paws when he was done. But by the time he finished the other three otters had vanished. He swam back and forth in front of my house, making a little “chip” noise every few seconds, clearly looking for his family. He swam and “chipped” in circles for about ten minutes – it was heartbreaking to think he had been abandoned. Finally, the other three showed up and after a bit of a reunion, they all swam off together. It was one of the most adorable Nature Moments I had ever experienced.
Otters are mustelids and related to other Northwoods mammals including mink and weasels. They were common throughout North America until Europeans overharvested the animals for their warm, dense and beautiful coats. By the 1870s, only about a quarter of the population was left. In the early 60s a rule was proposed to safeguard endangered plants and animals. The text was finalized in 1973 and the CITES law went into effect in 1975. CITES, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora is a global treaty to ensure international trade in wild plants and animals is legal, traceable, and biologically sustainable. Plants and animals are placed on one of three appendices. Appendix 1 is for super rare and highly endangered species, such as gorillas and tigers. Appendix 2 is for species that are not endangered, but could become so, or are a lookalike of an endangered species. The American River Otter is listed on Appendix 2, Other Wisconsin species listed in Appendix 2 include American ginseng (the subject of my last Field Notes) and paddlefish, a rare (and large) fish found in the Wisconsin River. The CITES Appendix 2 is not a list of endangered species or species prohibited from international trade. Rather, its use is to regulate and monitor species that could become endangered. Trade is possible with the proper permits. Appendix 3 is for protection of species of concern to individual countries, including, for example, walruses.
In the US, the Federal government, and in particular, the US Fish and Wildlife Service decides which plants and animals will be listed as endangered. They are subject to the Unites States’ Endangered Species Act, with the goal of protecting and revitalizing species in danger of extinction and protecting identified species before they become endangered. They use information such as the population size and habitat range in deciding which species should be protected. Globally, the International Union for Conservation of Nature periodically assesses every species and classifies them as extinct, extinct in the wild, critically endangered, endangered, vulnerable, near threatened, and least concern. Animals that are critically endangered, endangered, or vulnerable are all considered “threatened.”
Otters are listed in the CITES Appendix 2, but are not considered endangered, and, although this might bother some listeners, they can be hunted or trapped in Wisconsin. By 5 pm the day following a capture, a trapper must report all captured otters providing the Wisconsin DNR with the best information on the otter population. Once the otter has been successfully registered, the trapper will receive a CITES tag. The Wisconsin DNR caps the number of otters that can be captured to 2500 each year with the season running from early November through the end of April. In 2024, the cap was reached before the end of the season and the season was closed about a month early.
The otters visiting my lake returned about a week later, and I could see a couple of them – probably the youngsters - wrestling on my neighbors’ dock. I tried to creep down to my dock to get a closer look, but I spooked them. But I look every morning to see if they are back for a visit.